Chris McLaughlin, Master Gardener

Chris McLaughlin is a former writer for The Spruce, where she wrote extensively on gardening, homesteading, and the care of alpacas and rabbits. McLaughlin is a modern homesteader with a strong emphasis on home agriculture. She and her family have actively pursued a self-sufficient and intentional lifestyle from their current country home, as well as in the suburbs for many years prior. They share their farm in California's gold country with horses, goats, bees, chickens, rabbits, dogs, cats, and the occasional bottle lamb.

McLaughlin is the author of seven gardening books and owner of the Laughing Crow & Company website. She has been the home agriculture editor for From Scratch online magazine and a staff columnist at Vegetable Gardener.com.

Gardens are a given at the McLaughlin homestead, and while vegetables, fruits, and fiber get top billing, you'll also find gardens devoted to flowers for cutting, wildflowers for bees, and dyer's plants for fiber arts.